Originally Posted by cymruflyer
You have become a secret society that shuns contact with us - "If I told you that I'd have to kill you". Bet I signed the Official Secrets Act befoe most of you and to a much higher level.
Actually, society is shunning the military. Public opinion is moving
against the Government, not
with the military.
People do not care about discipline in the military: that's why they feel happy to pontificate on Deepcut without actually understanding the first thing about it. That's why slime like Mr Hugheston-Roberts can try to eradicate summary punishment and courts martial without considering the effects.
People do not care about having a well-equipped military: where were the protests when Labour scrapped a third of the Royal Navy? Where were the "STOP THE CUTS" banners when Blair decided to ditch squadron after squadron of capable, necessary aircraft? Who marched on Westminster when Geoff Hoon decided to cut thousands of infantrymen from the Army? The only people who were protesting were people whose families and friends were affected when they weren't issued with body armour, or they flew in a Hercules without foam cladding. That's why we're getting fewer and fewer new ships and aircraft, contributing to the decline of our strength.
People do not care about a diminishing defence budget (in real terms). They don't care about military families living in houses neglected by the DHE, or soldiers living in near-squalid conditions in Victorian barracks. They don't care about military jobs in catering, transport, maintenance and comms being transferred to undeployable civilians. That's why Whitehall beancounters can get away with introducing capped actuals and PAYD, directly hitting our pockets, and why civilian techies are allowed to go on strike, actually paralysing airfields.
Who does care? The
Sun and the
Daily Telegraph. One appeals only to those who want a bloody victory without counting the cost in lives. The other appeals to ex-colonels in the Shires. Both are to be congratulated for making a stand, to be sure; but in spite of the posturing, it means little, and has little overall effect on the Government. You think that Blair (reluctantly) gave us the new ops welfare package because of the media? Think again: one week before he made the decision, David Cameron had highlighted the issue (becoming the only current political leader to actually talk about the military at Conference). The only thing Blair hates more than the media is the possibility of the Tories creating an issue, so he stopped it and claimed a watered-down version of Cameron's idea as his own.
Blair and his cohorts know they can play fast and loose with defence because it won't lose them a single seat if they close an RAF station here, amalgamate a regiment there, send a ship to the scrapyard yonder. And the same applies to the Tories and (God forbid!) the Lib Dems.
So before complaining about us, take a look at society and tell me why people gamely allow this Government to reduce our military capability and treat me and my colleagues like $hit. Then come back and tell us we're segregated. It's not by our choosing.
Oh, and
well done for announcing to everyone in the world that you signed the OSA to a "much higher" level than the rest of us. If you really cared, you'd recall that it's highly irregular to discuss your clearance with anyone. Maybe you'd like to retract that testy little comment.